Famous Faces

Judy (Day) Ricketts
Judy (Day) Ricketts was fourteen years old at the time of the International Woodworkers of America (IWA) Strike of 1959. A native of Badger, she, along with other schoolchildren, watched from the roadside as loggers and local authorities came together in a famous melee that effectively ended the strike. She believes that the children of the day never recovered from witnessing this terrible event in Newfoundland’s history.The Badger Redemption is Judy’s third book. Her first book, The Badger Riot, is a National Bestseller, the #1 bestselling book in Atlantic Canada in 2008, and winner of the 2010 Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage and History Award. The sequel, The Badger Confession, received great critical acclaim and is a Globe and Mail bestseller.

The Badger Drive
Badger’s most important role in logging was that it was from there that the “Badger Drive” was conducted. This log drive took place on the Exploits River between Badger and Grand Falls and was carried on between 1908-1991. The Badger Drive was famously described by John V. Devine in his song The Badger Drive.All of the pulpwood from Millertown to Badger divisions west of Badger had to pass through this area. To facilitate this, hundreds of men were employed keeping the logs flowing down the river. In 1911, the Reed Company began a series of sale of timber rights with the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company which led to the latter’s acquisition of timber limits in the area. In 1910-1911 A.N.D. established the Badger Woods Division to facilitate logging operations. From that point and up until 1965 the AND Company would be the most important work force in the local economy.In 1911 the company built warehouses, repairs shops, blacksmith forges, and a cable scow across the Exploits River to facilitate the movement of men, horses and supplies to logging operations across the river.

The Paul and Barrington families
The family names most closely associated with Badger can be traced back to the Paul and Barrington Mi’kmaq families and it is a Mi’kmaq man, John Paul that is thought to be the first permanent resident of the town. John Paul and John Barrington are known to have trapped in the Badger Area. John Barrington also served as a guide in the 1875 survey for the Newfoundland Railway.The area was all wildernesses until about 1894 when the Newfoundland Railway went through. Soon after, the first railway workers settled here. Around that same time, lumbering operations commenced and it was initially a source of logs for the Exploits Lumber Company who had a sawmill at Botwood and owned the timber limits,

Constable William Moss
Constable William Moss was tragically killed on March 12, 1959 during the International Woodworkers of America strike at Badger that eventually became known as the “Badger Riot”. Constable Moss of the RNC was struck on the head with a piece of pulpwood during a melee on March 10, 1959. He was taken to a hospital in Grand Falls, but died two days later. A logger was arrested and charged with murdering Constable Moss, but was eventually acquitted by a 12-man jury in the Newfoundland Supreme Court.